The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has proposed opening up relatively pristine natural areas in eastern Utah to oil and gas drilling, including Nine-Mile Canyon and Desolation Canyon, despite the agency’s own determination in 1999 that the areas have “wilderness character” and thus are good candidates for wilderness designation. “BLM is condemning these lands to a future of oil rigs and gas pipelines and almost certain disqualification from future wilderness designation,” said Stephen Bloch of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
